I'm reading Lawrence Wright's "The Terror Years," and on page 120 he tells a Saudi joke.
Mr. Wright lived and worked in Jeddah beginning in January of 2003. He got a job with the Saudi Gazette -- an English language addition of a Saudi newspaper -- where he was supposed to teach new hires how to be newspaper reporters. And the chapter titled "The Kingdom of Silence" consists of anecdotes from his stint at that newspaper. Here's an exchange he relayed in his book:
"Don't you guys ever tell jokes?" I asked one Saudi friend.
"Of course," he said. "We're very funny."
"So tell me a Saudi joke."
He thought for a moment and finally offered this:
A Somali, an Egyptian, and a Saudi are asked:
"What is your opinion of eating meat?"
The Somali said, "What is eating?"
The Egyptian said, "What is meat?"
And the Saudi said, "What's an opinion?"
Well, maybe you had to be there.
In any event, "The Terror Years," drawn from his work researching "The Looming Tower," is an engaging book.
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